Page 1 of 1
Posted: Sat Jun 26, 2004 12:43 am
by debra wiltshire
can anyone advise on liver fluke? I know that it can be picked up from marshy land or from running water but can it be transfered from cow to unborn calf? Is there any treatment recommended and how serious is the condition? My first posting after feeling shamed by the message left to all us unknown readers....
Posted: Sat Jun 26, 2004 9:45 pm
by Duncan MacIntyre
Liver Flukes come in various species of the order of Trematodes, and are generally flat roughly oval shaped parasites which enter the body by the mouth as immature stages and migrate to the liver, living in the liver tissue and damaging it as they make their way to the bile ducts where the mature and lay eggs. The eggs pass via the bile duct to the intestine and land on the pasture in the faeces. When the eggs hatch they enter an intermediate host, usually a snail. Our usuall fluke in the UK is Fasciola Hepatica, though some areas on the West Coast of Scotland also have Dicrocoelium Dendriticum. The latter fascinates me because it has two intermediate hosts - after being in the snail it infects ants, affects them in such a way that they grasp the tops of grass stalks and hence get eaten very easily. But fascination is not the purpose - the purpose of the intermediate host is to multiply the fluke so that many more emerge from the snail than went in - so if no treatment is give the infection can build up quickly especially in a wet year. Wet pasture is needed for the snails, and also the right acidity. Another key point in the natural history of fluke is that they affect many species, for farming the important ones being both cattle and sheep. But deer can carry them, and even humans occasionally if you do not wash your wild watercress!
So if you have wettish grazing, sheep and or cattle, you need to think about fluke control. The main treatments are Fasinex,Combinex or Tribex, which kills adult and immatures down to 2 days in the animal, Ivomec Super, does mainly adults but also a very efficent roundworm treatment, and Trodax, middle of the road as far as efficiency goes, as is Valbazen,another combination product. The range of treatments and the possible timetables for use is obviously very complex and your own vet is really the best person to give the correct relevant advice for your own situation. I t is importasnt to treat if you have fluke as unchecked they can greatly reduce performance in chronic cases and in the situation of really heavy challenge the immatures cause such destruction of the liver that the animal dies. Death may also result from Clostridial infection (Black Disease) which can affect the damaged liver tissue.
This is a bit of an off the cuff reply so not totaly comprehensive - the fluke treatments named are only a selection of trade names and by no means exclusive.
Duncan, too much to say as usual
Posted: Sun Jun 27, 2004 8:40 am
by Sylvia
Debra
Take a dung sample to your vet to check if fluke is on your holding. If you have cows in several fields toddle round and collect a bit here and there. This should show you whether you have it or not. And whether to treat or not.
Posted: Mon Jun 28, 2004 6:18 pm
by debra wiltshire
Thanks for the replies...I think a call to the vet is needed..We have recently moved and the land is dry but our previous grazing did have a marshy wet area[